John, the elder by exactly 15 months, had been asked about just this possibility last week, if the brothers Harbaugh, sons of a football coach, had ever talked about meeting in a Super Bowl.

"Not that I'd admit to," he'd said, with an impish grin.

Well, go ahead: There's no need for discretion anymore.

Ray Lewis is going to the Super Bowl. So is Joe Flacco, who had the audacity to call himself elite before this season started. And Colin Kaepernick, too, a tattooed quarterback who, for 15 of his 25 years, has had a pet turtle named Sammy. It's Lewis' farewell ceremony, Flacco's official ascension, Kaepernick's coming-out party and, most of all, a sea change for the country's most popular game. Staid and safe is out, new and bold is in.

That was Kaepernick and the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, winning not on the young quarterback's sprinter legs -- as they did last week -- but on his exquisite execution of the read-option offense.

The defense hassled Brady, Lewis shed tears and it was clear the Ravens were following a recently set New York Giants formula, getting healthy and hot at the right time, playing with an intangible momentum (see: Lewis). And yet, both teams are following another prescription, too, one that says there's nothing wrong with tinkering, no mere waiting to see if the fates would align.

A year ago, San Francisco was in this NFC title game, at home and with Alex Smith as its quarterback. A Smith concussion in Week 10 of this season gave Jim Harbaugh the impetus to put in Kaepernick -- and to stay with the young quarterback, despite Smith's return to good health a short time later. The 49ers found a new dynamic.

A year ago, Baltimore was in this AFC title game, again in Foxborough and with Cam Cameron as its offensive coordinator. A late-season swoon gave John Harbaugh the impetus, in Week 15, to dismiss Cameron and promote quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell to OC. The Ravens found a new creativity.

Where Jim had the "Is he nuts?" quarterback change, John had the "Is he desperate?" offensive coordinator change. And now they both head to New Orleans.

But before we completely look forward, we must look back, because there was more to this day. Like the ashen look on Brady, who won so much so early, but has since suffered eight straight seasons of falling short.

There was Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez, corralling the ball in the end zone late in the first half of the NFC game, then clutching it along the sideline, as if he knew it could be his last touchdown. Gonzalez might have revolutionized the tight end position, but after 16 years and one playoff win, he quietly conceded that it's time to make way for the likes of Davis, the 49ers tight end who's made the position a destination for freakish athletes.